Many boats are equipped with electronics which may be used to monitor and provide boaters with information about navigation, water temperature, water depth, underwater topography, and fish location. Common manufacturers include Lowrance, Garmin, Hummingbird, Raymarine, Eagle, and many others. Many of these electronic units have become larger and more sophisticated over time. In fact, many of the devices are over twelve inches wide and six inches tall. These devices can be quite heavy, placing a lot of stress on their mounting brackets. Traditionally, these electronics are mounted with a single base secured to the boat frame, with a single vertical member, and a U-shaped bracket sitting atop the vertical member. The U-shaped bracket will often have side supports with knobs to secure the electronics to the upper portion of the U-shaped bracket. In many configurations, the electronics seated in the U-shaped bracket can only be tilted downwardly or upwardly to the user view, or rotated around on the vertical member, with no other degrees of freedom or movement (for example, no vertical or horizontal movement).
In use, as the boats are operated, and the electronics continually shaken, the manufacturer-provided brackets become stressed, and these heavy electronics can become loose from their brackets, base, or vertical members. In some instances, the brackets can completely release the electronics, causing damage or loss. Additionally, many of the boats being manufactured do not allow sufficient space for wider electronics to be mounted in a way that allows the electronics to be pivoted around the base (for example, facing toward the boat operator when driving, or facing the front of the boat while fishing). Thus, the need exists for an electronics mount that provides additional sturdiness while simultaneously allowing greater freedom of movement.